Friday, April 21, 2006

My weirdness revealed

I've been tagged a few times to do the six weird things about me. And since I have so much weirdness, I'm glad to share some of it with you. Promise me that after you find out how weird I am, you'll still be my friend. Or at least pretend.

1. I have a habit of making fun of baby names. When our local paper comes with the latest list of baby names, I go through and pull out the weird ones. Being a teacher, I have rules for naming a child (should be spelled normal, not a made up name, etc). Many people out in redneck land give their children weird names. I mean really weird! And so I go through the paper and make fun of those awful names, telling them how sorry I am that their parents gave them that name. Maybe it's mean, but there are a lot of bad baby names out there! The worst one I read lately? Chasen. Not so bad as a first name. I don't love it, but it doesn't suck. But the middle name? Danger. Yes, this child is named Chasen Danger. That's just mean!

2. I have really weird food dislikes I discussed
here. Besides those ones (which in many eyes makes me weird enough), I didn't much like chocolate until I was pregnant. I could eat small amounts of chocolate, but I never craved it. Then the third trimester of pregnancy hit and chocolate became my craving. Now I crave it on a regular basis. I don't like white chocolate, but then we know white chocolate is not really chocolate. I'm also weird when it comes to hotdog type things (which are a little wrong in and of themselves). I will eat mustard only on a regular hotdog, but ketchup only on a corn dog.

3. I talk really super fast. We're talking auctioneer fast. When I get excited or tired or have a lot to say (which is almost all the time), I speed up and talk a mile a minute. One of my biggest complaints from students is that I talk too fast. And it's true. I always have - since I was a young girl. My friends, parents, and husband are use to it. They say as long as they catch every third word I say, they can get the gist of the conversation. I amaze people when they hear me go so fast. A kid in high school used to like to time me to see how fast it would take me to say a prepared paragraph or something. This talent is useful in church. A 20 minute prepared talk will last 10 minutes or less under pressure, getting the congregation out of there faster. On a semi-related note, since this often happens when I am tired, my husband knows to get me to bed by 11 pm or what he calls the "Babble-on" will start and he'll be up for hours listening to me talk nonstop for hours about nothing in particular.

4. I obsess over certain things. Really obsess - especially if it is something I am working on at the time. For example, when I am charting for fertility and I am in the 2ww, I will obsessively take my temperature ten times a day or more to see if my temperature is dropping. I know, I know - only the first wake up temperature is accurate, but I do it anyway so I can predict the start of af. With trying to lose weight, I have been obsessively weighing myself six or more times a day to see if I am losing. I had to ask Mark to hide the scale from me yesterday because it is so bad. I've been weighing myself when I wake up, when I get out of the shower, after I get dressed, etc. Mark is only going to bring the scale out once a week. I do this with many things. Ask me to research something and you will get more information than you could ever want or need.

5. I am also obsessive with certain things Camden related. Besides
dressing him in the perfect outfit, I worry over little things all the time. I'm not obsessive about keeping his pacifier clean, but I will obsess over how much he ate, how wet his diapers are, his routines, etc. I am very dedicated to making sure Cam gets his naps and goes to bed on time each night. I can freak out a bit when he is off schedule. I make sure he gets at least five fruits and veggies a day. The other day we took him out for his first fast food meal. He had a hamburger, mandarin oranges, and some of my beans from my taco salad. But inside I was freaking out because he didn't have a vegetable with lunch. I had to keep telling myself it was ok if he didn't have a vegetable with his lunch this one day.

6. Mark calls my mind a percolator because he says it never shuts down or shuts up (just like my talking). Things bubble around in it until out pops some random thought that catches him off guard. Yesterday I was getting ready for school and I started asking my most recent weird thought. I asked him what if his son (my stepson) K who is a type 1 diabetic ever needed a kidney transplant (it can happen with diabetics) and Cam was the only perfect match. And say Camden was young, like under eight, and the ex insisted we use Camden. What would Mark do? Mark knows to take my weird thoughts seriously, so he thought about it, and then pointed out there was a 13 year age difference between K and Camden and so it would never happen at a young age because Camden's kidney's would be too small. But I think random thoughts like this all the time - hypothetical situations that have about no chance of happening. I can come up with some doozies in that percolator mind of mine.

7. Yeah, I know it is supposed to be only 6, but this one came to me as well, so it's a bonus. I stress and worry constantly. As you can tell with numbers 4, 5, and 6, I worry and obsess a lot. Mark says if I had nothing to worry about, I would worry about not worrying. And he's probably right. I think way too much and then stress or worry too much about random, unusual things all the time. Like what if Camden caught the avian flu. Or what if the sky really did fall.

So there you go - weird things about me. Do you still think I am semi normal? Or should I be committed to an institution? An institution might be a nice break from work. Hmmm . . . .


People I tag:

My husband because I know he's weird!
Nettie
Nicole
Lynanne
Carrie
Emily - She's got to have some great hidden weirdness!
Marissa

27 comments:

Kristen said...

LOL! Now don't worry about being normal! You crack me up! Although I can see myself worrying about the step-son kidney issue. I'm obsessive about some things, too. Like, I check my blog a million times a day when I am at work to see if there are any comments. It annoys me that I do it, but I can't help it!!

Mall Worker said...

I don't see anything in that list that would suggest that your not normal!

I also worry about not worring enough. It drives my worse half nuts!

ShelahBooksIt said...

you sound pretty darn normal to me.

Kermit~the~Frog said...

Wow, I had to play some catch-up here! Enjoyed your quirks.

Tigersue said...

I had to laugh at your first one. I have a friend that lives in Virginia and works in a school and she says the names there are terrible, particularly with ethnic groups. On that same note, my husbands name is Michael, and his english teachers would call him Michele, now those are two pretty normal names and they still got them wrong. :)

smart mama said...

fertility makes everyone crazy... you're in good company

Lei said...

You're so cute, Rachelle - this was fun!

Anonymous said...

You are this week's flip Winner!!! Congrats!! Love your blog!!

Diane Viere said...

Love these blog tags! Nothing weird about anything you mentioned....you just sound like a very busy--very loving--mom and wife! It comes with the territory!

Diane

Gina said...

***Barging in***
I am enjoying your blog. This post is great. So many people have been tagged and it's fun to see the weird things people come up with about themselves.
I agree that you are normal and this post only reflects that you are a great mom!
PS: IAMLDS2

Blackeyedsue said...

I do the same things with baby names. Believe it or not, my little sister wants to name her first boy "Ranger Danger"...GAG!!!

Melzie said...

This is where I admit that if I ever have Twins the names are
GIRLS: Polly & Ester
Boys: Harley & Ryder
Mixed: well, those are normal ones, LOL!. ;)

Unknown said...

Great list. I am pretty obsessive myself and laid back at the same time. I also stress over my baby boy Justice on some things and on others I am laid back. Being a mom is world of worries. Don't stress too much!

Carrie said...

I love your list. You are not weird, as I can relate to a lot of what you said and I am NOT weird. So, you are not weird. I will work on my list.:)

Valarie said...

hate to say it, but you're hardly weird. well, except maybe the former dislike of chocolate. Maybe your fertility troubles were caused by a chocolate deficiency. It's never been diagnosed before because most women of reproductive age get all they need and more.

scraphappymama said...

I could just copy and paste your list into my blog. We are so the same. I am a fast talker, constant worrier, nonstop thinker, and ex teacher who can't stand so many names for various reasons. So, no, you are not weird . . or else I am too!!

Dawnyel said...

I LOVE IT!! I'm not alone in the whole worrying thing!! So does that mean that I'm semi-normal too??
Actually, I related really well to all of your list! Now you know you aren't alone! :)

Gabriela said...

Great list! I obsess too. I do love white non-chocolate chocolate though. Thanks for visiting my blog! Have a great weekend.

emlouisa said...

YOu tagged me too! I didn't even know it. That's what I get for only checking blogs twice a week, lol. (I have to limit myself these days)

And the fruits and veggies thing: You are SO a first time mom. I used to be good at that too. Now? not so much.

sheri said...

You're not weird. But you could use a nice spa day! lol And I agree w/another comment...a lot of it might be 1st time mom stuff. I'm already SO much more relaxed w/Kelly.

Anonymous said...

wow. i agree with sheri. you need a nice relaxing vacation or something. and reading your post... stressed ME OUT! LOL!

Andrea said...

wow, i didn't realise we had so much in common! lol I am an obsesser too and i worry about weird things too(like-if i got shot at home and i couldn't get to the phone, what would i do? would i be able to crawl to the phone, would the Spirit tell Dh that something was wrong and he would magically show up just in time, etc etc), though i usually don't tell other people.....for obvious reasons....lol
I talk fast too and sometimes stutter because i can't get the words out properly. i have to stop and start again...slower.

wow, i should have added these to my weird list.

Diana Mancuso said...

Nowadays, being normal is weird. I like your quirkiness!

PS. Please ignore my tag. I just noticed you did this one already!

Anonymous said...

how funny - after you mention your fast you talk, i started reading it really,really fast, too!

Jane said...

I think Les is on to something, the weirdness must come from infertility....at least I can claim that as my excuse too.

I think it is so funny that you check the paper for baby names, that made me smile.

Keep being weird, I like you that way.

Stacy said...

I talk so fast when I am nervous that a timed out to the T talk for church that is supposed to be 15 minutes will end up being 5!!! My dad used to always sit in the congregation and point to his watch to remind me to S-L-O-W D-O-W-N!

You're not so weird to me!

Anonymous said...

Good point, though sometimes it's hard to arrive to definite conclusions